Americans win some, lose some in their latest farm bill. US president Barack Obama will sign the new $1 trillion farm bill (paywall), giving US farmers better crop insurance to mitigate risk and consumers better meat labeling. Too bad for American households that federal food stamps get slashed.

Brazil fends off inflation, sort of. Thanks to a weakening currency and seasonal falloff in certain types of spending, Brazil’s monthly inflation is expected to ease to 0.61% in January, shrugging off December’s decade high of 0.92%. That still leaves annual inflation at 5.67%, above the government’s 4.5% target.

The US jobs tally perks up. December was a rough month for US job numbers; a brighter figure for January (an expected 185,000 added jobs) should pave the way for more tapering by the US Federal Reserve.

General Motors withered on the vine. General Motors’s profits fell 13% to $1.04 billion, or $0.67 per share, in the fourth quarter. But it wasn’t all bad news; Some of those holes were one-time costs, European losses weren’t as severe as last year, and the company ended the year with more cash in its pocket. GM also dished out its first dividend in nearly six years.

Another insider trading target bit the dust. US federal prosecutors notched up their seventh conviction against sullied hedge fund SAC Capital. Mathew Martoma was found guilty of profiting $275 million by trading shares of major pharmaceutical companies using insider information about clinical drugs trials.

Russia agreed to fund Hungary’s nuclear expansion. Hungary will build two new nuclear reactors, thanks to a €10 billion ($13.6 billion) loan from Russia. Although the Hungarian government approved the bill with an overwhelming majority, critics fear dependence on Russia and a lack of transparency.

Russia pitched a fit about US-Ukrainian ties. An apparent recording of two senior US officials discussing the anti-governments riots in Ukraine was leaked and tweeted by the Russian government. The voices of US assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland and US ambassador to Ukraine Geoff Pyatt seem to discuss boosting the Ukrainian opposition with the help of the UN, while shunning the EU.

David Yanofsky on how America’s rising imports are killing the planet. “The US exported $61.7 billion more goods and services in 2013 than 2012, shrinking the trade deficit by $63.1 billion, according to data released today by the US Census Bureau. As a portion of US GDP, the trade deficit shrank to 2.8% from 3.3%. The shift reflects a resurgence in American manufacturing and fossil fuel extraction, as well as a healthier world economy, which created new opportunities for tourists to visit the US. This is good news for the US economy, but the growth in these sectors is also striking for its impact on the environment. Travel and energy services are the largest contributors to household carbon emissions.” Read more here.